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<\/a>\nWhy tomato wine?<\/h3>\n
My wife Jan grows many fruits and vegetables on our property, most of which I have made wine from. The idea for tomato wine was not mine, however, as I use Jack Keller\u2019s website for most of my fruit wine recipes. One year, we had a plethora of tomatoes and had enough sauce, so I found a recipe and decided to try it.<\/p>\n
The first few years I made it, you really couldn\u2019t taste the tomato, and while we really liked it, it never faired well in competition. So we added a few more tomatoes for the \u201cbig tomato taste,\u201d as one judged said it was lacking. Since then the wine has won several medals and is a favorite of many of our friends.<\/p>\n
When I was asked to write about this wine, it was suggested that I don\u2019t have to give away any secrets. There are only a few that I will divulge now…<\/h3>\n
First, I use a large variety of tomatoes, cherry, plum, beefsteak, etc. This adds to the complexity of the wine. Second, freeze the fruit. This accomplishes two things. First, it helps to break down the fruit making it easier to work with, and second, you don\u2019t have to pick it all at once. As they ripen, pick, clean and freeze. When you are ready to make wine, thaw for a day or so and you are ready to go.<\/p>\n After the tomatoes have thawed, I squeeze them in a hydraulic press to get the juice (save the skins).<\/p>\n That way I can better control the amount of must I will end up with. Now, for the sugar, you need to creep up on this. Add water to less than the volume you want and check the specific gravity.<\/p>\n Then add \u00bd the sugar from the recipe and check again. I have chaptalization formulas I use to help here, but you need to be careful at this point. I typically want a S.G of around 1.090 for my fruit wines. Once you have the right volume and S.G, put the skins back in, along with the chips and the oak dust, and the remaining additives. I use EC-1118<\/a><\/span><\/strong> as it is dependable. I have tried K1V-1116<\/span><\/strong><\/a> but the formation is way too vigorous (tomato volcano).<\/p>\n Now treat it like any other wine, ferment to completion, squeeze the skins, let it settle, clarify, filter and bottle. You can back sweeten it, but we like ours dry.<\/p>\n You will end up with a light golden wine with that \u201cbig tomato taste.\u201d Enjoy.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nEnough talk. Here is the recipe I use for 6 gallons of wine (I have made up to thirty gallons at one time)<\/h3>\n
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